Why Peter O'Toole Always Wore Green Socks

That might seem like just a quick observation about the guy; the fact that, since age 14 nonetheless, he wore green socks. Through footage of the actor being interviewed on television there's evidence to suggest that he stayed true to that idiosyncrasy and had been wearing green socks his entire life. You may not have noticed it had you seen him on stage or on screen, but he stayed true to his slightly punk green footwear up until the very end.

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In a 2007 interview with USA Today, O'Toole recalled the genesis of this calling card: "My father was a racetrack bookie ... on racetracks when the world was young, green was an unlucky color. So my way of being disobedient at 14 was to wear green socks, which couldn't be seen. It has since become a superstition."

Indeed, he wore them his entire life, and the reasoning behind such a steadfast sartorial decision points to the tic that made Peter O'Toole not just another pretty-boy British stage actor but rather one of the greatest that ever lived: Peter O'Toole was absolutely always himself. Style maven Megan Collins says about the socks: "It says that he's intentional about his style, a trait that's too rare with guys, in my opinion. A man who makes a point to say, 'I know who I am, and here's how I choose to express it' is a man worth knowing."

The socks—if you'll allow me to stretch this analogy—allowed him a small yet perfectly valid way to say "fuck you," to be just a little bit weird at all times (even when attending, say, The Oscars), to ultimately keep that teenage rebellion alive. This is arguably the quality that made Peter stand out. He never let that part go, the part of us that remembers teenage rebellion, sticking with the green socks until, most likely, the day he died.

Most people Peter's age had the rebellion stamped out of them; it's a peculiarly British thing to get older and to assimilate oneself into the fray; to keep a stiff upper lip and what have you, and not to rock the boat. I find it charming that he kept the peculiarity of his socks going that long: a joke 67 years in the telling, saying infinitely more about Peter than some of his lesser roles ever could. Gay Talese famously noted them in a biographical essay about O'Toole. You could see them when he appeared on Jay Leno to promote "Venus" (a great, great movie and fantastic performance) in 2007, and you can see flashes of green (in his socks, and again in ascot form) when he pressed his hands into the iconic cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in 2011.

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The first thing I did after hearing he died was buy 8 pairs of green socks. It's not much, a relatively thrifty way of remembering someone who I admired hugely but never got the chance to meet in person. Wearing them, it's a reminder not to let go of what separates us from the background—a small flash of color in an ever black-and-white world— a reminder of what makes those who stand out.

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